Things You May Have Missed…

11:58 in News by Louis Mosley

Miles Mandelson has been blogging about the terrific progress being made at Great Asby.

The last of the mesh boxes have been installed and a 220-metre long trench has been dug for the armoured mains cable and the first fibre optic ducting to the Goodlie Hill wireless node. Read all about it here. Inspirational stuff!

Bill tamps down soil in the trench, 1 March 2011

Meanwhile, Carol Bowe, from Vale of Mowbray Community Broadband in North Yorkshire, has written a wonderful account of her community’s campaign to get better broadband. She did the research, surveyed the village, and is now on the brink of getting connected: her How To Be A Broadband Champion is a must-read.

Vale of Mowbray, North Yorkshire

And finally, over on Fibrevolution, Lindsey Annison has been blogging about the King’s Fund’s International Congress on Telehealth and Telecare. Click here to watch the sessions live.

As Lindsey argues, telehealth and telecare technologies could transform people’s quality of life, especially in remote areas. But communities will need to have their superfast broadband infrastructure in place first. Lindsey reckons that the typical measures of cost-effectiveness used to assess telehealth and telecare technology fail to capture the true value and benefits of these kinds of services: “government and local authorities must look at more than just cash projections and profit forecasts“.

For those who’d like to know more, a quick guide to telehealth and telecare can be read here. The WSD Action Network is an brilliant online resource for research into telecare, telehealth and the management of long-term conditions. The King’s Fund’s website is an excellent all-round resource for health-related issues.